The sharp barbed tips of fishing hooks are well known for causing injuries to fishermen and snagging other things with which the hooks may come into contact. When the hooks are part of a lure having a body which is designed to attract fish, they oftentimes have multiple barbs, sometimes three or more to a lure. This makes handling a bit treacherous and increases the potential hazard of snagging, not only as a danger to a user, but also causing delays in whatever task was in progress at the time, since it frequently takes a considerable period of time to unsnag a hook from the object or person snagged.
It is known to provide covers for surrounding lures and enabling them to be retained on a fishing rod while not in use. One such cover consists of a molded hard plastic box which is large enough to contain the lure and also snap over a rod. It has a container section, a closable lid, usually a living hinge for the lid, and a snap means for retaining the lid in closed condition when containing a lure. The fishing line to which the lure is attached can extend laterally outwardly between the lid and container section, and presumably has the capability of preventing kinking of the line. While this version of lure protector is suitable, it would appear to require two hands to operate its being opened or closed to either remove or return the lure to the box and rod. This would complicate handling due to the necessity to lay down or prop up the rod and reel when ready to commence or discontinue fishing. This may be a necessity several times if the fisherman wishes to change from one location to another while stream fishing, and must walk through brush which poses a snag potential. The hard plastic also presents some risk of lure damage from jostling about in the box and the lure also has the possibility of its hook damaging the rod.
Another known cover is a flat rectangular flexible wrap with hook and loop fastener means such as the well-known Velcro around its outer edges. The wrap is made of a waterproof material normally not subject to being snaggable. By holding the wrap in the palm of his hand with the rod tying in its center and with the fastener means facing upwardly on each side of the rod, a fisherman can direct the rod to settle the lure onto one side of the wrap. Then, by bringing the other side of the wrap over and toward the tire, he can close his hand to cause the wrap to surround and fasten the lure to the rod. The sharp fish hook or hooks can directly contact and damage the rod and line unless the wrap is large enough to fully enclose the lure. At the time the wrap covers the rod, the fisherman must work his fingers around the outer edges of the wrap to assure that the lure, particularly its sharp barbs, is fully enclosed so as to remove any danger of snagging. Care must be taken to have a wrap which is large enough to surround the lure, and if the wrap is just large enough without much room to spare, the lure must be placed near perfectly within the wrap to avoid a hook sticking out of a side. It ordinarily requires two hands to remove the wrap when ready to begin fishing, necessitating either laying down or propping up the rod in order to do so.
Both of the above prior art devices are presently on the market, at least through catalog sales. They, as well as the design about to be described herein, typically come in a variety of sizes to accommodate the different sizes of lures used by an average lure fisherman.
In addition, a variety of lure protectors are known in the U.S. patent art. Some such devices which can be kept covered and on a fishing rod when not fishing are:
U.S. Pat. No. 5,199,208, cylindrical tube with slotted side for threading a line thereinto to capture a lure within the tube, and finger at the outer back end of the tube for entering a rod eyelet to enable slack removal from the line;
U.S. Pat. No. 5,505,014, flexible, resilient molded plastic material folds over a rod, line and lure, and has fasteners to connect the sides opposite the fold line;
U.S. Pat. No. 5,588,245, complicated hinged box which is fastened around the rod, lure and line;
U.S. Pat. No. 5,598,658, cover is wrapped about a lure and attaches to the rod by hook and loop fastener means;
U.S. Pat. No. 5.625,977, hinged box in the shape of a fish operates like a clothes pin to open and close the box; and
U.S. Design Pat. No. 275,338, hinged cylindrical lure protector covers lure.